Chapter 66: WTF is Happening?

Greg POV:

1:45AM Monday

We were just settling down after a delightful weekend where we met some new friends. Everyone enjoyed many fun and erotic sexual encounters that left all of us looking forward to more in the future.

Our construction guys ‘connected’ with family members they hadn’t had much time with before this weekend as well as our 10 newest ‘South Beach’ friends. Our core ‘six females’, Jamie, Linda, Sarah, Gracie, Charlene and Emmy had the most time with our ‘South Beach’ friends, 8 of whom had kids only slightly older than ours. Darren, Glenn and Lonnie have told you about Marcus, Laura, Ryan and Mina, but the other six, not so much.

That’s because we kept them more occupied since their backgrounds were more similar to ours. Like Claire, a licensed chiropractor who also specializes in sports injuries and works mostly as one of the Miami Dolphins medical and treatment staff. Her husband, Joe, is a physical trainer and strength coach for the Dolphins as well.

Their closest ‘special friends’ are Steve and Cindy who are not married, but have been ‘engaged’ for over 5 years. They also work in the front office for the Dolphins. Cindy is mostly clerical, but, Steve is one of their top talent scouts. He’s on the road for much of the year which is at least partly why they haven’t married yet.

Then there’s Tom and Terri. Tom is a Miami cop, but, his main duties are Dolphin’s head of security. Terri, a Korean martial arts Master, is the only one of the ten who doesn’t work for the Dolphins. Because, she’s a lieutenant for the MPD and a detective. She claims to have gotten the job because she has a ‘sixth-sense’ about criminals that usually results in figuring out even the most diabolical ‘masterminds’ among them.

Tom and Terri also know the real reason Laura fell in love with Marcus.

Four years ago Marcus was in a convenience store getting some snacks and Gatorade after a long, grueling practice. Suddenly, this psycho pulls out a gun and demands the counter person put all the money in a bag.

Marcus had his hands up, hoping not to get shot, as did the other 4 people in the store. Everything was okay until the door opened and Laura came strolling in, totally unaware of the situation. That caused the robber to freak out and he shot the clerk, suddenly realizing he hadn’t put much money in the bag yet. Frustrated with himself, he turned the gun on Laura and it was obvious, while swearing at her for ‘screwing up’ his plans, he was going to kill her.

That’s when Marcus, seeing the look of sheer terror in her eyes, made a decision that would forever change his life.

He suddenly stared at the gunman like the most hated quarterback he’d ever faced and bull-rushed him. He tackled him and violently smashing him into a steel pillar with all the force his 300-plus pound body could generate.

The bastard never saw him coming, all of his attention now on Laura. Everyone heard the guy’s ribs breaking and the loud ‘thunk’ as his head whiplashed into the pole, knocking him out, cold. Unfortunately for Marcus, he got shot in the knee, purely incidentally, as the robber fell to the floor and his muscles involuntarily clenched.

Luckily, a Miami cop (NOT Tom) just happened to be coming in for coffee and some Twinkies. He immediately used his walkie-talkie and called for backup and an ambulance. He nearly had to pry Laura from Marcus when the paramedics arrived, as she was desperately trying to put pressure on his bleeding leg.

That’s when the paramedics noticed the would be robber, who was cuffed and still unconscious, had blood coming out of his mouth. One of the two of them asked the cop, “Who should we transport to the hospital first, officer?” He was pointing at the robber.

The cop flipped out, “That guy is just a fucking criminal, you idiot! Don’t you recognize his big black man? That’s Marcus Arrows, you fool! He was the Dolphins first round draft pick, and destined to be the next ‘Mean Joe Green’. Take him first!”

After reassessing Marcus’s knee, he told the cop, “Look, I know a gunshot wound is serious, but, if what the witnesses said is correct, your perp could have multiple broken ribs and quite possibly punctured at least one of his lungs. If he doesn’t get medical treatment ASAP, he could die!”

The cop was incredulous, “I’ll call for a second ambulance, you take care of Marcus and let me worry about this other idiot. Make sure you take him to Miami University Hospital, since they have the best trauma unit and orthopedic specialists. I’m also pretty sure that’s the hospital that the Dolphins usually use.”

Claire giggled, “As they were loading Marcus into the ambulance, Laura would not let go of his hand. When the paramedic asked her what her relationship was to Marcus, Marcus was mumbling when Laura said, straight-faced, “I’m his fiancée! Where he goes I go, okay?”

According to Laura and Marcus, that was the first time they looked into each other’s eyes. They were already trying to sedate Marcus when he was asked for confirmation that she was indeed his fiancée? All he could mutter was, “I sure hope so?”

Claire went on to tell us that the perpetrator, one Bradley Dobbs, did indeed barely avoid death from a punctured lung. Bradley’s family, especially his older brother, Frank, tried to sue the city, but the lawsuit was thrown out and Bradley was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder, two counts of attempted murder, armed robbery and reckless endangerment.

Marcus missed nearly a whole season, having two surgeries to repair the torn cartilage and bones in his left knee. Then, intense physical therapy to strengthen his knee to be able to play football again. And Laura was by his side every step of the way. It’s hard to tell who fell in love with whom first, but within six months, the two of them were indeed married.

And, Laura was three months pregnant! Claire insists that wasn’t the main reason they got married. According to Laura, Marcus was her savior and hero. And according to Marcus, Laura was the sweetest, most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on! And that, Laura being pregnant simply accelerated a process that he described as being ‘inevitable’.

I should describe Claire a bit. She’s very tall, probably six foot one inch, so even bigger and taller than Emmy. Her husband, Joe, is built like a linebacker. So, it was no surprise both of them quickly bonded with Bill and Emmy, especially because Claire was one of the very few women who could accommodate every inch of Big Bill’s ‘equipment’. Joe was nearly as thick as Bill, but only about 7½ inches long. Therefore, Emmy found him nearly ‘perfect’ for her.

We talked about all the ‘perfect’ discoveries made by nearly everyone on this trip. Between that, and the fact that all of our kids were getting along so well, to me it was inevitable that at some point in the future they would become at least ‘first cousins’ to our family.

The six newest ‘cousins’ were with me, Jamie, Eddie, Gracie, Max and Linda when the Captain’s voice rang out over the ship wide intercom.

“Will Greg and Monte please come to the bridge immediately!? We have a potentially serious situation I need your advice on!”

I looked at Eddie and Max and knew they weren’t going to let me go alone. Therefore, all the three of us hurried out of the room, so we could teleport to the bridge. When we arrived, it was also no surprise to see Monte, JB and Lonnie already there.

Captain Morgan gasped for just a second, but after a tight chuckle said, “Sorry, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the way you guys can just appear out of nowhere so quickly. I assume the three guys I don’t recognize are part of your crew?”

Monte nodded, “Absolutely Adam, and with Charlie and Bob gone, they’ve stepped up nicely to cover for them. What seems to be your boggle?”

Adam pointed at the radar screen, “I just received a call, claiming they were the Coast Guard. This isn’t my first rodeo and whoever these fools are they obviously don’t know how the Coast Guard always announces themselves. They want me to stop when we get nearer to them so they can board us. They claim to be looking for a fugitive named Marcus Arrows.”

I huffed while shaking my head furiously, “I can tell you for a fact, Adam, Marcus is no fugitive! Several months ago this man was named the NFL’s defensive player of the year! He’s the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet, but now I’m curious to see who these assholes really are? How far are they away from us?”

“At our present course and speed, about eight miles. There’s something fishy about that radar signal. It’s far too big to be a Coast Guard cutter or cruiser. My best guess is that could be several smaller boats lashed together with fenders in between them. And, if that’s the case, there could be as many as 6 to 8 smaller boats in that group. This is why I called you up here, to get your opinion on how to proceed.”

Monte furled his eyebrows, “Did the voice that contacted you sound Russian at all?”

Adam shook his head, “No, it actually sounded like an American with a slightly southern accent.”

Monte let out a sigh of relief, “Well, not that we can completely rule the Russians out, I have a feeling whoever this fool is, has no idea what kinda shit storm he’s sailing into.”

That’s when I had an idea and asked if I could have the mic. “I’m afraid there’s no such person on this ship. Besides, we’re in international waters and I know for a fact the Coast Guard would never act as bounty hunters for some meaningless fugitive, of any kind. Perhaps you tell me your name and if, perchance, you’re any relation to that scumbag, Bradley Dobbs?”

“Aaaarggh!” He bellowed, “Don’t you dare talk about my brother that way, you asshole! We know Marcus is on that ship and you’re going to turn him over to us or we’re just gonna shoot your ship full of holes killing everyone until we get him!”

I chuckled loudly, “Before you do anything stupid, you might want to ask any of the real pirates that you talked into helping you if they know what happened to the pirate named El Muerte!? What we did to that asshole will be small potatoes compared to what we’re about to do to you! I am warning you, we are turning away and if you make any attempt to approach us, well, may God have mercy on your souls!”

It was obvious this guy wanted to say more, since he was holding his mic button-down and we could hear several voices in the background. At least one of them had heard about El Muerte and was desperately urging him to let us go and live to fight another day. About that time, suddenly, our one large radar contact broke into 8 much smaller ones. While two of them did turn to the west, away from where we were turning, the other six were coming rapidly, trying to intercept us.

JB and Max decided to turn invisible and fly over our pursuers to assess just how many pirates were on each boat and how well they were armed. Just before they left, Mike, Jessica, Arnold and Melody appeared, now clothed in their shorts and T-shirts. I asked Mike and Arnold if they still had all of the armament that they had previously.

Mikey grinned, “Hell yeah! We still have six grenade launchers, 18 extra clips of grenades, 12 M-16s with 36 extra clips and four RPG’s. The only thing is, we have two new crewmembers who’ve never been taught how to shoot any of our weapons. John and Tom are still here and they are proficient with at least the M-16s as well as our 40-cal Glocks. I think Carl could probably handle an M-16, but our newest guy, Maury, is green as grass and he’s only been with us for a few weeks. Which ones should I get?”

The second he said ‘Maury’, I had a premonition there was something sinister about him. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I just told Mikey to only get John and Tom. I was tempted not to say anything about Maury, but Monte immediately noticed a worried look on my face and asked what was wrong.

“I can’t be certain, but, I had a dark feeling the second Maury’s name was mentioned. That’s why I insist we leave him out of any plans we may come up with.”

Monte looked at Lonnie, “Do me a favor and stick by Greg to keep the two of you inside your protective bubble. I doubt we’re going to need it, but I’d rather be safe than sorry, if you know what I mean?”

Lonnie nodded, “Don’t worry, I remember what happened the last time we executed a rescue here. I just shot Max and JB the same message and told them to be ready for anything.”

I added, “And I’ll stay in contact with our ladies and if for any reason I lose them, I’ll send out a mayday as well.”

About that time JB reported, “HOLY SHIT! These guys are loaded for bear. I counted at least eight mercenaries on each boat and they all seem to have automatic weapons! I think at least two of the boats are like World War II PT boats with mounted machine guns and may even have torpedoes on them!”

Captain Morgan gasped, “TORPEDOES!? Are you freaking kidding me?!”

Monte immediately called Rex and Jeremy so we would have all hands on deck. Jamie asked me what we wanted Marcus and Ryan to do, as they were insisting on helping any way that they could.

I told her to have the two of them stay with the children, even though I felt the kids were going to be safe.

The six pirate ships were closing to within three miles of us. Their boats were at least as fast as ours and approaching on our port side. Captain Morgan now had us going northeast, hoping to possibly out run our adversaries. He said we were going nearly 38 knots which was the top speed of this yacht. We were all concerned about the torpedoes, not sure what kind of range they might have. The pirates were now close enough that we could distinguish the two PT boats from the other four much smaller boats that were probably only 30 footers.

And, the PT boats were considerably faster than the four, smaller ones.

We told the captain to turn slightly more to the starboard so that they would be behind us and see if we couldn’t outrun them. As soon as Adam was headed directly away from them, it was easy to see that we were indeed, slightly faster than they were. Even the PT boats.

Just as we were breathing a sigh of relief, it felt as if Adam had killed the throttle. Adam got on the radio and desperately called his engineer, “Brian, I lost power, what the heck is going on?”

We heard Brian key his mic, then we also heard another voice telling him that if he said a word he was going to be shot. Arnold told us that voice sounded like that new guy, Maury.

While I didn’t know what Maury looked like, I did know Brian and immediately went invisible and teleported directly behind him. Thankfully, Maury was standing in front of him and was pointing a 40 caliber Glock right at him. I flashed an open communication letting Brian know I was there as well as everyone else. That’s when I noticed Maury was holding something in his left hand. I felt Lonnie looking through my eyes and he gasped, “That’s a God damn psychic nullifier, Greg! Don’t let him activate it!”

Unfortunately, it was too late. Before I could get my bubble up, I suddenly materialized right behind Brian. Maury started laughing, “It sucks to be a regular guy again, doesn’t it, asshole!” He said to me, in a snarking tone of voice. “This thing is set to its maximum range so everyone on the ship that can do that magical shit ain’t going to be able to do it no more!”

He carefully set the device on a counter so he could concentrate on Brian and me. He pulled a walkie-talkie type device from his belt and told someone that he’d activated the psychic nullifier and nobody had to worry about any of us meddling in their business.

I haven’t felt this helpless since the last time we tried to rescue the people on this ship.

Maury took the microphone away from Brian and keyed it, “This is your new captain speaking! This ship is now dead in the water and within a few minutes my friends will be boarding it to take care of the business they need to take care of. Anyone who resists, will be killed immediately! All of your psychic friends are now powerless and those that might be attempting to use weapons of any kind are going to find I’ve thrown them all overboard! I want everyone left on board to lie on the floor, face down and wait for further instructions!”

Then, the bastard told Brian to kill all the power on the bridge. Brian tried to tell him that he couldn’t do that without shutting off the power to nearly half the boat. Maury started screaming at him that he felt he was lying and better do what he said or he was going to be shot.

Brian huffed in frustration, “Look, I’m telling you the truth. We have to go into a different room, the electrical room to do anything other than shutting off the engines from here. This is the engine room and I’ve already shut down the engines like you told me to. The electrical room is two doorways up the gangway from here. That’s where we have to go for me to shut down the power to anything else without pulling the main breakers and darkening half the ship!”

Maury was frustrated but waved his gun, indicating to us he wanted Brian to lead the way.

I was just hoping we wouldn’t run into anyone since it was apparent Maury was getting more nervous and agitated by the second.

I was hoping at least a couple of the guys were in their bubbles before that device activated...

JB POV:

Max and I had just heard Lonnie flash that there was a psychic nullifier on board. Therefore, we wasted no time joining hands and putting up our bubble. Thankfully, we soon heard from Lonnie and Monte that they too were in their bubbles. Unfortunately, the nullifier got activated so quickly, no one else reacted fast enough. So, right now, the four of us are the only ones that still have our psychic abilities. With the yacht now slowing to a halt, our six pursuers were only minutes away from being able to board our yacht.

Max told me that this device is like the one that Chen accidentally activated on the island, therefore, we were already within range of its effects if we were to drop our protective bubble. The situation was eerily similar to the one we found ourselves in just a few weeks earlier. Monte and Lonnie were going to teleport, invisibly, to Rex and Jeremy and hopefully get them in their bubbles. They had no idea if this guy Maury had any other help on the boat, but didn’t want to take any chances in case he did.

The problem with being inside the bubble was, I didn’t know if I could use my lightning bolts or not. Out of desperation, Lonnie told me to target the farthest boat to the rear of the pack and see what would happen.

Dammit! When I tried unleashing one, nothing happened. These bastards were now just minutes away from being able to board the yacht and there was nothing I could do to stop them. Suddenly, I remembered that Braitak and Juules were back on our spaceship. I flashed them and thankfully they were able to hear me. I told them about our predicament and asked if Braitak had figured out how to nullify the effects of a psychic nullifier.

He chuckled, in his deep voice, “It’s funny you should ask me that, my friend. Juules and I were just tinkering around with it and I do believe we may be able to help. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to get the spaceship directly over your position. You wouldn’t happen to know the GPS coordinates of where you’re at, do you?”

We heard Lonnie bark out a chuckle, “I certainly do, my friends!” And he proceeded to tell Braitak exactly where we were, since he was still on the bridge. Thankfully, he managed to get the coordinates out just before he told us the power on the bridge had just been shut off and he lost all their instrumentation. Five seconds later and we really would have been totally screwed. Braitak said he would be over our position in less than five minutes.

I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late, since we could already see the six boats were throwing lines onto the deck railing so they could board. The yacht sat much higher in the water than the six, smaller craft, therefore, they could not just use a regular boarding platform. We counted at least 10 of the pirates had already boarded when Braitak announced they were directly above us. I had an idea and told him to target the four smaller craft and blast them with a particle beam.

Suddenly Max and I saw dozens of bodies being hurtled into the ocean as those four craft exploded into a million pieces. That caused a lot of chaos and most of those pirates that had just boarded the yacht were now staring down at the flotsam that used to be their boats. And buddies!

They were now looking all around, wondering what the hell just happened. Since our spaceship was cloaked, they had no idea who or what caused the devastation. That’s when we noticed the two larger craft, the PT boats, were slowly moving away from the yacht.

Seconds later Braitak told us he had activated his new device and that the psychic nullifier should be quickly losing its effectiveness. The instant I heard Linda in my head I knew it had worked and Max and I quickly dropped our bubbles.

Since we could see that no hostages had been removed from the yacht yet, I decided these other two assholes were not going to get away. I unleashed two lightning bolts at each of the PT boats and was amazed that they exploded with just as much ferocity as the spaceship’s weapons had caused to the four smaller craft. Max was cheering his ass off as we decided it was time to get back on the ship and get busy helping our friends...

Monte POV:

As soon as that Maury asshole finished making his demands, I knew I had to talk to the Captain to figure out if he could have any more accomplices on the boat. I told Lonnie to keep his bubble up, but I was going to drop mine so I could talk to the Captain.

I felt the effects of the nullifier immediately as I quickly began getting a slight headache. It wasn’t excruciating, but, I also noticed I no longer had any of my abilities. Captain Morgan informed me that besides Maury, there were only two other, female crew members, who he couldn’t be entirely sure of. One that caught my attention right away was some girl named Sharon who Adam said never really wanted to get involved with the guests. She usually worked in the galley and seemed to know what she was doing there. The other one was named Tosha, and she too shied away from any of the intimate acts that the other crew would gladly perform for the guests. Since Arnold, Tom and John only had telepathy, they said their headaches were very mild. Arnold showed us where they usually stored their weapons and that Maury asshole was right, they were gone.

Just as we got down to the salon area, that’s when I noticed that there were two girls holding pistols and yelling at everyone to get on the floor, face down. I motioned for everyone to stay back, since they hadn’t seen us yet.

For the first time in the last year or so I was feeling somewhat helpless. Not having Maggie in my head was strange and I instantly missed having her there.

We made our way down a series of ladders or stairs as they call them, to try and see what was going on with Maury. I had Arnold lead the way because he was much more familiar with the yacht than I was. I whispered to him that we needed to head toward the engine room to see if we could restore power to the bridge. He said that Brian must’ve led Maury to the electrical room since that’s the only place on the ship they could actually turn off the gauges and other electronics in the bridge that had gone out just as we left.

My heart started beating much faster when he said that room was also very close to where all the children were being bunked. Just as we neared the gangway that led to the electrical room we heard two gunshots. Not having my telepathy was now driving me completely crazy.

Suddenly, it felt like the yacht was being rocked and we heard several explosions one after the other. We heard screaming and it was apparent at least several of the pirates had already boarded our ship. As I crept closer to the room where the kids were, I heard Maury yelling on the radio after he was told that several, if not all of the smaller boats had just been destroyed. He was freaking out, telling the voice on the other end of the radio he had no fucking idea what just happened. All he knew was whatever it was didn’t happen as a result of anyone on the yacht. Then I saw him run from the room where the kids were toward the aft ladder that led up to the aft deck. Just as I was about to go after him, I saw six pirates, dressed as commandos, running behind him. I told Arnold and the gang we needed to check this out because I felt that that’s where the gunshots had come from.

When we entered the room, I saw Marcus lying on the floor with two gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.

And ... All but three of the kids were gone!

The two ladies who’d been in the room helping with the kids were helping Ryan who was frantically trying to stop the bleeding! They told us Marcus had tried to stop the pirates from taking the children. The three kids left were all screaming and crying that the bad men had taken the other children. Tom and John started helping the two ladies when Arnold and I decided to run after and try to catch those commando looking mother fuckers.

They must’ve been holding the kids in front of them so we couldn’t see they had them. Arnold said he could hear the hydraulic lift on the aft boat launch being lowered. That caused us to stop for just a second before we resumed running up the stairs toward the boat launch.

It now became apparent to me that this attack was far more than just an attempt to capture Marcus. There was no way that psycho who’d contacted us could’ve possibly gotten his hands on a psychic nullifier device if the damn Russian KGB hadn’t somehow also been in on it.

Just as we arrived on the aft deck, I saw the conning tower of a submarine that was now only partially submerged right behind the yacht. Just the very top of the submarine was visible as we watched the last of the commandos hand his child off to someone and hustled down an open hatch near the front of the sub.

Arnold and I had just jumped on the deck of the sub when it began submerging, forcing us to swim back to the yacht.

This was so fucked up! For the first time in my life I felt defeated and felt like screaming. Just then, I felt Maggie flowing back into my head and I realized I had my psychic abilities back!

All that felt great, but, telling her that I had lost the kids who were now on a submarine headed to God only knows where was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Then I felt Max and JB come into my head saying that Braitak had this submarine on his scope and guaranteed us he would not lose it.

Exactly how we planned on stopping it remained to be seen, however.

Linda POV:

Something very messed up has happened on the yacht! One minute a bunch of us, including six of our newest friends, were all relaxing and telling stories when suddenly Captain Morgan, Adam’s, voice came over the ship-wide intercom urging Greg and Monte to go to the bridge immediately. Monte wasn’t with us at the time, but when Greg got up to leave, Eddie and Max followed him. Greg flashed me that he felt something was horribly wrong and needed to get up there immediately, but didn’t want to just teleport because our friends didn’t know of our abilities yet. Jamie immediately jumped into Greg’s head, so she could keep us abreast of what was going on and Max invited me to do the same with him. Our six newest friends sensed that something was wrong and began asking questions that we weren’t sure we wanted to answer. They were only gone for a few minutes before Jamie looked at me and we both ‘heard’ that a band of pirates was trying to capture Laura’s husband, Marcus.

Claire and Joe had just told us the story of how Laura met Marcus. When we heard the pirates demanding we turn Marcus over to them we knew we had to tell them something. Jamie and I put our six new friends under a temporary confidentiality spell so we could explain how we suddenly knew what was going on. We’d just barely explained about our telepathy when everyone could feel the boat suddenly start slowing down.

Claire immediately asked if our abilities were anything like that guy Jonah they had seen on the news several months back. I told them that the three guys, Greg, Ed and Max, who’d just left, were very much like Jonah. And, that they weren’t the only ones on board who were like that. That seemed to calm their anxiousness, at least a little.

However, the more I heard, the more my sense of dread skyrocketed. I was temporarily relieved when it seemed like this had nothing to do with the Russians, or trying to kidnap us. The guys all wanted us to stay hunkered down in our cabin until this was over. Then I heard Lonnie tell Marcus, who wanted to help, to go and stay with the kids, just in case.

I figured Lonnie just said that more or less to get Marcus out of the way so he wouldn’t catch on to any of our abilities. Then, shortly after that, Greg had gone down to see what was going on with Brian and the last thing I heard was that some new crew member, named Maury, had a device that Lonnie felt might be a psychic nullifier. That got my attention. Unfortunately, it was before any of us could activate our protective bubbles. Then we discovered all of our psychic abilities had disappeared.